Four years ago now we purchased one of my favorite things for the kitchen: the dehydrator.
We purchased the Presto Food Dehydrator and it definitely makes things easier. Many of you know that we have large gardens. As the year goes on and we have an abundance of things that we’ve been growing, the dehydrator comes in handy to help us save them. We also do a lot of canning. Living in New England it’s nice being able to have some of the things that we’ve harvested through the gardening season throughout the rest of the year.
One of my favorite uses for the dehydrator is for my herb garden. Much as I love having my herbs hanging all over the house to dry as I think it makes our house more cozy, the dehydrator does an amazing job of preserving them. I must confess you will still find some herbs hanging throughout the year. Once we’ve dried the herbs we keep them in mason jars to use throughout the year. One of the biggest uses for them is in my teas. I love basil tea and lately we have been having an abundance of chocolate mint that I am happy to report is coming back in a big way this year.
Another wonderful use for them is for mushrooms, peppers, onions and some other vegetables from the garden that do well in the dehydrator. They do well in cooking throughout the year and they are amazing in home made soups. Every time we get a chicken we always make a beautiful bone broth either on the stove or we will let it simmer in the crock pot for a couple of days. The garlic and basil makes the house smell amazing. Perfect for those chilly months. The veggies that are dried like mushrooms and peppers are a wonderful addition.
Another favorite is fruits. I adore banana chips. You can use so many different fruits as tea. I think I’ve mentioned to you that I’m allergic to actual tea leaves. When I refer to tea I’m referring to pretty much any type of tea with no tea leaves! Peach tea is one of my favorites as well as cinnamon apple in the fall.
Oh! One more use is seeds for the next year. In the picture you will notice pumpkin seeds. Those are for our huge Dills Atlantic pumpkins that Earl likes to grow. They can get up to 400 pounds!
Want to kick things up a notch? You can make magickal blends to use in teas or in your foods. Maybe you want to make a prosperity mix for your chicken, or a calming tea. There are so many possibilities.
I do want to mention that there are all different types of dehydrators and they do go on sale. I know we got ours during the holiday season at a steep discount. Look around and see which ones you would like. We wanted a larger one as we tend to use it a lot and make larger batches.
I hope that you have a magickal day!
Much Love and Many Blessings,
Jasmeine Moonsong